Howard Reich

The holiday weekend will overflow with jazz. Among the highlights: Victor Goines. Music in Chicago has been all the richer since saxophonist-clarinetist Goines was appointed director of jazz studies at...

Chicago drummer Dana Hall leads so many distinct ensembles, and thrives in so many stylistically far-flung settings, that it’s impossible to say which one reveals the most about his musical...

If you had to name one artist who’s the face of jazz in Chicago, it probably would be singer Dee Alexander (with trumpeter Orbert Davis a close second). For when...

More than three decades ago, a conductor I'd admired from afar called to ask if we could get together over lunch. I recognized Paul Freeman's name immediately, because he had...

In 1966, Frank Sinatra shared a Las Vegas stage with the Count Basie Orchestra to record what soon would be regarded as a signature classic (one of many): "Sinatra at...

Freddy Cole stepped quite slowly to the piano Thursday evening at the Jazz Showcase, making you wonder just how much strength and sound he would be able to summon once...

Every Frank Sinatra devotee probably has a personal favorite album — I'd vote for "(Frank Sinatra Sings For) Only the Lonely" — but surely "Sinatra at the Sands" ranks high....

In the early 1940s, while World War II and the Holocaust were raging across Europe, a group of Soviet scholars began working on a most unusual task: Collecting, editing and...

Pianist Benny Green has been visiting the Jazz Showcase since the early 1990s, back then in the company of eminent bassist Ray Brown. Green's work has been consistently polished and...

Five years ago, the adventurous cellist Tomeka Reid created a groundbreaking event: the Chicago Jazz Strings Summit. But, really, her aim stretched beyond jazz, in that she wanted to convene...